Pope Francis has declared 2021 to be the Year of St. Joseph, and Catholics will gather at multiple California churches on May 1, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, to consecrate their state to the foster father of Jesus Christ.
Among them will be Father Donald Calloway, an Ohio-based priest of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception and author of the book “Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father.” He encouraged others to take part the consecration.
“I am so excited to be participating in the Consecration of California to St. Joseph on May 1.” Calloway said on the website of BVM Blue Mantle, the group organizing the event. “In these very difficult times, we need a message of hope, and all families, marriages, men, women, children, bishops, priests, and nuns need to go to St. Joseph!”
One major event is hosted at St. John the Baptist Church in Costa Mesa. It will begin Saturday May 1 with Mass at noon, followed by the consecration prayers at 1:15. The congregation will lead a procession with a statue of St. Joseph at 2 p.m.
Father Calloway will then deliver a talk and sign books at 2:30.
BVM Blue Mantle, LLC, describes itself as a group of Catholics “whose love for our Lord and Mary has inspired us to consecrate California to Our Lady, and now to St. Joseph.” While the group has invited all Californians to join them for the consecration at the Costa Mesa church, they encouraged others to involve their parish or take part at events at other churches.
Participating churches include St. Mary Catholic Church in Escondido, St. Ephrem Maronite Catholic Church in El Cajon, Star of the Sea Parish in San Francisco, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in San Diego, St. Anne Catholic Church in San Diego, and St. Andrew Catholic Church in Pasadena.
Blue Mantle encouraged those without access to Mass to pray the rosary and consecration prayer outside a local church.
The group invoked Pope Francis’ proclamation of a Year of St. Joseph.
“Let’s ask St. Joseph to help us to defeat the Culture of Death. Together we are praying for an end of abortion, euthanasia, (and) natural disasters,” Blue Mantle said. “As brothers and sisters in Christ, we will be praying for the sick, elderly, unwanted, and an end to the violence, sex abuse, drugs, alcoholism, (and) sex trafficking.”
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ACI Prensa Staff, Jun 28, 2023 / 15:00 pm (CNA).
Given the possibility that the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) may prohibit Nativity scenes on public property, the Mexican Bishops’ Conferen… […]
Archbishop José H. Gomez places the Book of Gospels and a cross on the coffin of Bishop David O’Connell before leading a procession at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, in downtown Los Angeles on March 3, 2023. / Photo by Jay L. Clendenin-Pool/Getty Images
CNA Newsroom, Mar 3, 2023 / 16:56 pm (CNA).
Thousands gathered Friday for the funeral of slain Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell, who was remembered as “a friend of Jesus Christ” and the poor.
Archbishop José Gomez presided over the funeral Mass, held at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. Speaking briefly at the conclusion of the liturgy, Gomez said “Bishop Dave,” as O’Connell was affectionately known, would be sorely missed, but “we know that he’s in heaven.”
“From there he’s going to continue to intercede for us,” Gomez said, “as he has done his whole life.”
O’Connell, 69, a popular Irish-born priest who worked on myriad social causes in South L.A. for the past 45 years, died Feb. 18 after being shot multiple times in his Hacienda Heights home, according to District Attorney George Gascón. Carlos Medina, the husband of O’Connell’s housekeeper, has admitted to murdering the bishop, Gascón said in a Feb. 22 press conference.
One of O’Connell’s closest friends, Monsignor Jarlath “Jay” Cunnane, gave the homily at Friday’s Mass.
“We’re heartbroken with you,” he said, speaking to O’Connell’s relatives sitting in the packed cathedral. “But thank you and your parents and those who’ve gone before you for giving us the blessing of him.”
Monsignor Jarlath (Jay) Cunnane speaks at the funeral Mass of Bishop David O’Connell at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles on March 3, 2023. Credit: YouTube/olaCathedral
The Holy Father’s message, which was first shared with attendees at a memorial Mass for O’Connell on Wednesday, was shared again at the beginning of Mass Friday.
“To those gathered for the Mass of Christian burial and to all who mourn Bishop O’Connell’s loss in the sure hope of the resurrection, the Holy Father cordially imparts his blessing as a pledge of peace and consolation in the Lord,” Gomez said, reading the statement, which was signed by Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
Following the reading from the Gospel of Matthew, Cunnane described O’Connell as “David, the friend of Jesus Christ; David, the friend of the poor.”
Said Cunnane: “I can’t imagine having walked that road without David at my side. I’m sure I would have got lost. I would have gone astray.” He said that O’Connell “was good at friendship” and was his “Anam Cara,” Gaelic for “soul friend.”
“He was a friend of souls. David did soul work. He spoke to the soul. He healed souls. He brought peace to souls,” Cunnane said, adding that “more than anything else … Bishop Dave was a friend of Jesus Christ and of Mary our Blessed Mother.”
Cunnane spoke about O’Connell’s devotion to the rosary and the Blessed Mother and mentioned his strong prayer life in recent years.
“For Dave life was, and especially in the recent years, life was prayer. Life was in the presence of Christ, and that is what he shared. Yes, he helped the poor. Yes, he fought for justice. But most of all, what he wanted to share was that encounter with Jesus Christ,” he said.
Cunnane added that he has battled sickness over the past number of years, which has hospitalized him. He said that O’Connell faithfully visited him in the hospital every day.
“I think I hear the Lord say to you, ‘My friend David O’Connell, come, blessed of my Father, enter the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of creation,’” Cunnane concluded.
‘The rock of the family’
David O’Connell, Bishop O’Connell’s nephew, offered remarks about his uncle before the Mass concluded.
“Uncle Dave was an inspiration for us throughout our whole lives and he will remain to be so,” O’Connell said.
“He taught us that if you have the capacity to help someone, you should do it. I can hear him so clearly in my mind saying, ‘Ah, it’s no problem I can do it.’ All he wanted to do was make things easier for everyone else and he never asked for a single thing in return, ever.”
Bishop David O’Connell’s nephew, David O’Connell, speaks at the bishop’s funeral Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles on March 3, 2023. Credit: YouTube/olaCathedral
O’Connell said that his uncle would consistently offer his prayers for his nieces and nephews as they encountered challenges in their lives.
“He never ended a phone call without telling me how proud he was of me,” O’Connell said, fighting back tears.
“He was really the rock of the family, the one we went to for advice, and for support. We are all heartbroken,” he said.
O’Connell said that a new opportunity presents itself following his uncle’s death.
“We now all have the opportunity to pick up where he left off and carry the example that he set. Help those that you can help. Lend an ear and listen to people. Respect each other. Be considerate and give others the benefit of the doubt. Have patience, and give everyone a chance. Make sure that those who are closest to you know that you love them and that you are proud of them,” he said.
“Uncle Dave, we all love you so much. I am so sorry that you will not be here for all the things that are to come in our lives, at least not in person,” he said. “Until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.”
The consecration of the state to Mary and the reconsecration to Mary last year didn’t work to make things better so, sure, why not try this? And after this doesn’t work what will they try next to keep people hoping? I don’t understand why people get excited over these consecrations nor why they bother with them.
The consecration of the state to Mary and the reconsecration to Mary last year didn’t work to make things better so, sure, why not try this? And after this doesn’t work what will they try next to keep people hoping? I don’t understand why people get excited over these consecrations nor why they bother with them.